The answer to the baseball players’ strike lies in both parties coming to an understanding about our economic system.
The owners must understand that they cannot conspire to hold wages down. The players must realize that a larger portion of their contracts must be based on how well they do in the future, and not on how well they did during a past season or part of a past season.
This means that the salary cap is out and that revenue-sharing between teams is a matter for the owners to decide among themselves, without being contingent on the players accepting the salary cap. It also means that incentive clauses must be the wave of the future, including incentives for being on a winning team.
Both sides, I believe, know this. But both sides also are practicing another part of our economic system known as maximizing one’s profits, regardless of any other factor. And this is why the strike continues, and why the consumers-powerless individually-continue to lament.
